Hello everyone, this is my (just made it on time) entry for the chit chat on author's corner round 7 challenge!
Hotch/Garcia is not my thing, but hopefully I made it work. drop a review because you are so kind! and please enjoy the ride
Promts: midnight kiss, surprise or proposal and bubbly, set post season 5x09
Pairing; hotch/Garcia
Hotch couldn't smile, he had nothing to smile about. Nothing to even consider good news. He looked down to his hands and sighed, he turned his head thinking about everything that had happened this time last year, and couldn't help but let a tiny smile. His smile was only a memory, because he couldn't smile where he was. It was like the gods had dealt him a hand that he couldn't even bluff. He wanted to be anywhere but where he lay. He picked up his coat and walked outside his cheap hotel room, the cool air of December breezing over his skin. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and grew irritated at the lack of signal. He would spend the start of the New Year alone, not even a soul to talk to on the phone. Not to mention it was a little more special than the start of a new year. From last year it was a day which meant so much more than a new resolution and lots of bubbly champagne. To him it meant the world and the start of something so much more. He tried to go back to that night. It felt bad remembering, it seemed all he could do with Hayley. Only remember the good times, only when he was home with her, and tried to forget all the times he wasn't. He doesn't want to spend his time remembering her like he did with Hayley, but it feels like the only way to soothe himself. He sits himself down on the ground outside and looks up to the dark sky and willed himself to go back to that night.
…
The sky was gray, the ground was wet. It wasn't the perfect night, but it didn't really bother SSA Aaron Hotchner, he was indifferent about the whole night. A new year, what's so different about one day to the next? He leant against the rail, waiting for more water to fall from the sky, it was imminent anyway. Hotch thought it was the New Year's welcome kiss. The rain brought him solitude that he couldn't even understand. Maybe it was because for that moment when everybody walked in the rain, ruining hair, wetting documents and forcing people to sigh and wish for sunshine that everyone felt exactly like he did every day. He still mourned the death of Hayley, and he knew that inside somewhere he always would, sometimes he couldn't even look into Jack's eyes. That hurt him a lot. His arms lay on the cool rail, and he brought his head down onto his arms and let out a small groan. It was 10 to 12 and he didn't plan on going inside the house where a rather larger gathering was taking place. He planned on watching the rain falling to the ground. Every drop indifferent. The drops started to lighten again, not even granting him his New Year's gift. He turned around to watch the view of excited bustling people rushing about to be with their loved ones for the New Year. As if it made a difference of sorts. The lights glistened his face and made his eyes look sullen and deep. No one noticed the man standing lone on the balcony. Hotch turned and looked back out to the deep abyss. He didn't notice the door open or the clinking of shoes as someone made his way towards him.
'Want some companionship for your lonesome evening?' Penelope asked, with a quirky voice and deep meaning.
Hotch visibly jumped slightly, turning his head and shaking it off.
'What are you doing here?' He questioned.
'I would say the same thing, but I'm not hanging around outside avoiding people and fighting sorrow on my own.' She said taking a step closer, only a few feet lay between them. Concern etched all over her face.
'I'm fine, I'll be inside in a minute, I'll meet you in there.' He continued to stare straight ahead.
'Nuh ah, you don't get to do this, you don't get to shake people off you, we're here to help.'
'I'm fine, just need some space.' Hotch turned his head towards Garcia but didn't make eye contact yet, his eyes drooping.
'Not tonight.' She replied. Quick and heartfelt.
'People are waiting for you too Garcia,' This time he met her eyes, and she didn't flinch. Penelope gazed right back into them.
'They don't matter.'
Hotch turned and faced into the darkness. He could hear the countdown going in the distance.
'10, 9, 8'
Hotch turned and looked at Garcia, and she stood there looking into his eyes.
'7, 6, 5'
'What's your new year resolution?' Garcia asked
'I don't have one. You?'
'3, 2.'
'To see if it would work.'
'1. HAPPY NEW YEAR!' A roar escaped from the building.
The two people standing outside didn't even flinch.
'What would?'
'This.'
Garcia closed in for a midnight kiss, expecting to be denied, and whatever else could be thrown at her. Much to her surprise Hotch barely even seemed surprised. She placed her arm around his torso, and Hotch pulled her close, cuddling her. Hotch felt some of the pain fall. He hadn't kissed anyone in a long time, but to him it felt so good. He didn't care that it was Penelope Garcia, the technical analysist, he didn't care that somewhere inside him was his conscious calling out not to forget Hayley. He didn't care that he would probably regret this moment for years to come. He just embraced the moment, letting the ginger warm hand of Garcia slowly wash the cold off his back.
Garcia slowly pulled back. She smiled, Hotch thought she would say something about the fact that they had made out in front in potentially hundreds of people. But she didn't. She smiled at him at him and looked into his eyes. Her normal bright persona barely showing. Just a girl full of emotion.
'I know what you're going through. If you ever find yourself feeling alone, give me a call.'
She walked inside and walked right out of Hotch's sight being lost in the hundreds of people. He turned around and leant on the rail and thought about everything. Not nothing like he had been. He thought about finding a glimpse of happiness in life. It had been a surprise that someone would come out and kiss you for the New Year. But as much as he thought it absurd, the more it just seemed to fit. There were no words to explain.
Hotch took another sigh, keeping his head down, and just thought about the world, about life. Soon after Hotch walked back into the crowded room and found Garcia. He just stood next to her, placed some remarks in group conversations. But it was enough. It was the start of something truly beautiful.
...
So here hotch was stuck in a small rural town in Montana. He promised Garica that he would never push anyone away, never be alone. And yet here he was, alone on the very night that he found himself never wishing again to be unaccompanied.
In the far distance he saw fireworks stream up into the air. Twinkling the clouds with shades of every colour under the rainbow. Hotch couldn't help but smile. Then the lights stopped, and he realised why. It was raining. Usually he would have found the comfort, but tonight he wished the rain would never fall again.